‘Inestimable importance’: 500-year-old cache of pressed flowers reveals new secrets (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by GreyShuck@feddit.uk to c/biodiversity@mander.xyz

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A collection of pressed flowers taken from the hillsides of Bologna 500 years ago is unlocking knowledge about how the climate ccrisis and human migration is changing landscapes in northern Italy.

Picked between 1551 and 1586 by the Renaissance naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi, the 5,000 delicately cut and dried plants form one of the richest collections of its time.

Aldrovandi’s original purpose was to identify plant species and understand which could be used for pharmaceutical purposes. Nearly half a millennia later, his carefully pressed specimens are helping botanists document the enormous changes that have taken place in the surrounding landscapes, according to new research published by the Royal Society.

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[-] Candelestine@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

We should make more time capsules specifically for scientists and academic institutions... Instead of "what would be a neat symbol of the times" it's more like "what can I take a sample of that nobody else will bother to and will otherwise change or decay?"

edit: Like, could a sample of your junk mail be useful someday? A month's worth of the physical, letterbound, came-in-the-mail stuff, with a careful record of the time period, location and socio-economic status of the receiver.

To be opened 200 years from now, long after all the non-preserved samples have met paper shredders, recycling centers and the carbon cycle.

[-] Darukhnarn@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Welcome to German bureaucracy. We keep everything.

this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023

23 points (100.0% liked)

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Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.

Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...

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